Commentaries

  • The Empowerment Imperative

    In one of those right place at the right time moments, I was in the EUCOM Operations Center in April 2018 to witness the launch of a combined US and Allied missile strike on Syria in response to a Syrian chemical weapons attack on civilians.  From this vantage point, I witnessed an awe-inspiring

  • CLDP: what it is really like

    If someone had mentioned that during the first off-site experience, I would be in tears and hugging a wooden zipline pole about 100 feet in the air as I could feel it sway from side-to-side – you certainly couldn’t have convinced me to sign up. However, there I was gliding through the trees and over

  • I'm with you

    Many of you have heard or experienced that the higher you are in the chain of command the lonelier it becomes. First Sergeants turn to other First Sergeants, Chiefs to other Chiefs, Commanders to other Commanders, the unit triad to each other. One thing I have learned as a First Sergeant is that

  • Three questions for your journey

    I have the privilege of meeting with Airmen every day. Sometimes it is for joyful events such as promotions or awards, but other times it is for more deliberate counseling or course corrections.Whatever the circumstance, I find that the conversation eventually evolves to the point where I ask some

  • Resiliency matters

    Remember, everything is not about you! It’s about the Airmen and families around you more than you think … and they’re watching and feeding off of you. The reason I laced my boots this morning was because I know I have a family and a body of Airmen depending on me to be there for them today; they

  • First Step to Honing Leadership, Becoming an Effective Follower

    When I was asked to write this article, many ideas ran through my head. However, one kept coming back to me, followership. Over the years, our focus has shifted to developing leaders through various forums. As we did this, it seemed that the need for developing followers has become a second thought.